I could practically tell what he was thinking. The idiot was obsessed with stages, levels and realms again. He was most likely thinking he could easily defeat a Qi Fusion Stage pract.i.tioner or something (wasn"t Jiang Jun Hao at Pure Spirit Stage or whatever? Well…I don"t remember and I don"t particularly care), and that the rest of the Heavenly Way Sect disciples were at such low realms that they didn"t pose a threat to him at all.

"Don"t get complacent," I reminded him somewhat harshly. "It doesn"t matter if they are from a lower realm or weaker or whatever. Even a rabbit can wound a tiger if it lets down its guard. People are perfectly capable defeating opponents stronger than themselves. h.e.l.l, haven"t you been doing that with your protagonist plot armor and special snowflake thing all this time?"

Granted, it wasn"t just plot armor or special snowflake logic. In reality, many factors had to be considered in a fight. It wasn"t a simple matter of "he"s stronger, therefore he automatically wins." This wasn"t a qi-measuring (or d.i.c.k-measuring – the length of your, uh, thing, determined how good you"ll be at s.e.x even before you did it – since when was it that simple?) contest. Why do you think we had martial arts tournaments? If everything was as easy as 10th-dan black belt winning, then we would just a.s.sign victories to the people ranked higher instead of having them partic.i.p.ate in matches in the first place. The dan ranking didn"t mean anything anyway. Yeah, probably it meant you achieved a higher level of training and mastery than most people, but it didn"t mean you would automatically win a fight before you even lift a finger. A tiger still had to pounce and slash at the rabbit, and if the rabbit got lucky or was smart, and got a kick off, it would not only survive, it would leave an ugly bruise on the tiger"s face.

Too many people were obsessed with strength, amount of qi, realm, stages and levels that they were clearly out of touch with reality.

"Yeah, yeah."

As always, the protagonist had to be an arrogant and impulsive guy, so Zhu Jiao merely dismissed my warning. He then removed the Heavenly Golden Draconic Gauntlets and placed them back in his spatial pouch before turning toward Bai Ning Xue and the White Tiger Sect. smiling broadly, he bowed gratefully.

"Thanks, Ning Xue. Thank you, everyone."

He also made sure to turn to Gun Bang and the spear guy and bowed to them too.

"Thank you, seniors."

"No problem," Gun Bang replied as he rested his staff casually on his shoulder. "If we let those fools do whatever they want and rob other people, then we can"t call ourselves martial artists of the righteous way. We wouldn"t have the right to persecute and hunt down the demonic sects."

"Speaking of the demonic sects, where are they?" Kuang Hu asked, clearly eager for a fight. He was disappointed that he wasn"t able to brawl with the Heavenly Way Sect members earlier and was spoiling for a battle.

"Who knows?" the spear guy shrugged.

"I hope we don"t run into them," Zhu Jiao muttered. I winced at that and groaned. He turned to me, confused. "What?"

"You just had to tempt fate, didn"t you?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"The moment you hoped that we wouldn"t run into them, our fate had been sealed. We"ll end up running into them for sure."

"Uh…" Zhu Jiao looked unconvinced by my explanation. "Surely we wouldn"t be that unlucky, right?"

The two outsiders who had gotten the other Spirit Treasure Armaments took their leave after exchanging a few pleasantries with Bai Ning Xue. As they left, she turned to Zhu Jiao while sheathing both of her Treasure Swords. She smiled and shook her head as she approached him, amus.e.m.e.nt flashing in her eyes.

"I thought you wanted to follow us. What happened? We looked around for you when we first entered, but the both of you went missing."

Zhu Jiao grimaced, and thankfully he didn"t spout that protagonist nihilistic bulls.h.i.t about "I"m accustomed to being alone." Instead, he gave a more practical and realistic answer. "There were way too many people, and we ended up being cut off. I did my best to catch up, but I was dragged along with the flow and couldn"t find you guys either. Never mind you guys, even Fei Wu got separated by me when the whole crowd rushed into the ancient tomb."

"Yeah, there"s too many people." I stared at the White Tiger Sect. "I"m actually impressed that you guys managed to stick together."

"We"ve worked together on missions before," Kuang Hu explained. "We"ve a good understanding of each other and thus are able to move more in concert. If you hang out with us more often, I dare say you"ll develop the same understanding."

"A pity we aren"t from the same sect." Zhu Jiao chuckled. I groaned.

"Really? Even if I"m with other members of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, I don"t know if I"ll be able to stick with them and have that same kind of understanding."

"Well, it"s high time you stop being a loner and learn to work with others." After saying that dismissively, Bai Ning Xue turned to Zhu Jiao. "As expected of Zhu Jia, that battle was impressive. I knew you would be able to beat Jiang Jun Hao to the Spirit Treasure Armament. That expression on his face, he never saw it coming, did he?"

"I was just lucky," Zhu Jiao replied with a laugh. I seethed inwardly. d.a.m.n right he was lucky. As the protagonist, Zhu Jiao had the luck of the devil himself. Always getting the good things, always conveniently escaping death, always at the center of attention and receiving praise after slapping everybody"s faces and proving them wrong. And learning the most powerful martial arts techniques and having such a great master.

Even though I somewhat shared his fate in having a dead master, Master only taught me for a week. In contrast, Zhu Jiao had Qi Lin accompany and guide him for years, thus widening his advantage over me.

This was so unfair. I couldn"t help but sigh and shake my head in despair. In the face of Zhu Jiao, no matter what I did or achieved, it would pale in comparison to him. Not that I wanted to make it a compet.i.tion, but Zhu Jiao was inadvertently destroying my self-esteem by being present. And worse, I knew I wouldn"t get anything as valuable as him…

"Where"s your first senior?" Zhu Jiao asked, casting a glance around the main hall warily. "I"m surprised Lei Yong Chun wouldn"t seize the chance to grab these Spirit Treasure Armaments. Come to think of it, where are the demonic sects and all the other elite martial artists?"

Now that he had mentioned it, there were no sign of Lei Yong Chun, Nan Ke, Ling Qing Zhu, Li Xue Wu, Yan Qing Wu and the others. There was only w.a.n.g Pan…I mean, Jiang Jun Hao from the Heavenly Way Sect.

"First Senior Lei Yong Chun and the rest have most likely already reached the center of the ancient tomb," Bai Ning Xue replied, but her voice was filled with disapproval. "To them, these Spirit Treasure Armaments don"t hold that much value."

"Are you f.u.c.king kidding me?" I muttered. These high-quality Spirit Treasure Armaments were worthless to those idiots? Look, I knew they were elite martial artists and most likely had bigger fish to fry, but even so, that was quite an audacious att.i.tude.

On the bright side, it meant we didn"t have to fight those monsters over these Spirit Treasure Armaments. Not that it helped me. Even without Lei Yong Chun and the rest joining the fray, I still couldn"t obtain a treasure of my own.

I was beginning to think I should just give up…

"Hah…"

On the other hand, the promise of even more valuable and higher-quality Spirit Artifacts, weapons and treasures hidden within the inner vaults of the ancient tomb was too much to bear. Since I was already here, I might as well keep trying. Fight to the bitter end…to give up now would mean cutting off any chance I might still have of getting at least a little something out of this whole ordeal. I should aim for that astronomical chance instead of surrendering to Fate.

Zhu Jiao and I glanced at the direction where Jiang Jun Hao had left in. Presently, not just him, but his fellow sect disciples and the dispersing crowd in the chamber, were all leaving in the various corridors that spread out from the main hall, all of which led to the deeper segments of the ancient tomb. Like me, none of them had given up on the chance to find more treasures, spirit artifacts and weapons in this place.

No wonder Lei Yong Chun and the rest didn"t bother to stop here. With their statuses and achievements, they probably didn"t hold these "mere" Spirit Treasure Armaments in their eyes, and instead planned to look for even more valuable treasures and Spirit Armaments located in the deeper regions of the ancient tomb.

It would be the crowning moment of irony if they gambled on that, only to find nothing and leave the ancient tomb empty-handed, I thought, more than just a little sardonically. The expressions on their faces if that happened would be too precious not to capture on video.

"We plan to rest and regroup here for a while before exploring the deeper areas. What about you? Do you still plan on following us?"

Bai Ning Xue seemed to sense Zhu Jiao"s ambition and greed. She knew her boyfriend too well.

Upon hearing her question, Zhu Jiao glanced around the vast hall. As I mentioned earlier, now that all the Spirit Treasure Armaments inside here had been claimed, everyone was already leaving the main hall and dashing toward the deeper regions without any hesitation. Particularly those who had arrived just after the Spirit Treasure Armaments were taken. I understood exactly how they felt, having experienced that several times before ending up here. The frustration and regret that filled my heart were what drove me to push on without pause, in hopes that I would locate another Spirit Artifact or treasure before they were taken once again.

"I"ll go ahead and take a look first. If I can"t find anything else, then I"ll just give up then."

Zhu Jiao seemed amused while he watched the scene of people coming and going. Even though he had reaped quite the bountiful harvest this time, he had yet to find the Spirit Artifact he was truly looking for – a yin-type artifact that would help his sister, Qing Tan. That had been his primary objective all along.

If he was unable to find it, then Qing Tan"s situation would undoubtedly grow more dangerous.

That was why he couldn"t stop right now.

"I"m very sorry. But there"s a reason why I"m in a rush. I"m looking for something specific."

Bai Ning Xue studied Zhu Jiao for a moment, and most likely because she was aware of his family circ.u.mstances and sister (they are childhood sweethearts, after all), she nodded understandingly and waved for him to go.

"Good luck. I hope you find whatever you need for Little Qing Tan. And wish her well when you see her again. I hope she recovers."

"Thank you!"

Zhu Jiao glanced at me, recalling that I was looking for a similar type of artifact.

"Are you coming along, Wu? Or are you going to follow the White Tiger Sect?"

"I"ll follow you," I replied, feeling a little hollow. Right now, I was probably the only one who hadn"t gained anything from this little venture. I was feeling bitter that I was facing a very high possibility that I would return home empty-handed.

However, this was a good chance for me. If I followed Zhu Jiao around, I might possibly be able to ride on his coattails and share in his protagonist luck. He might even split whatever treasures he found with me!

"All right, let"s go then!"

Zhu Jiao then spun around and bowed politely to bid Bai Ning Xue, Kuang Hu and the rest of the White Tiger Sect farewell.

"Thanks again…if you guys need help, give me a holler. If I"m around, I"ll definitely come and save you!"

Bai Ning Xue laughed and nodded. "I know you will."

Even though I didn"t know it, later I learned that Zhu Jiao had indeed saved the White Tiger Sect a couple of times before. Being the protagonist that he was, he had quite a few adventures of his own where he played the role of hero, saving his love interest and her sect, and doing all those usual xianxia main character things.

The both of us then proceeded toward the depths of the tomb. Zhu Jiao was unable to suppress a smug smile on his face.

"Ha ha ha! This has been quite the fruitful trip! I can"t believe I managed to get my hands on so many Pure Yuan Pills and even a high-quality Spirit Treasure Armament! It was totally worth making the journey here!"

"…"

Noticing my taciturn silence, Zhu Jiao turned to me, his brow raised.

"What"s the matter, Wu?"

"Nothing."

"Really?" Zhu Jiao didn"t seem to believe me, but he let the matter drop. Or that was his intention anyway, but he continued with a question that speared straight into my heart. "So what have you managed to get so far?"

"…nothing."

"…huh?"

At first, Zhu Jiao couldn"t believe what he was hearing. He stared at me, taken aback. I wasn"t sure if he was doing this on purpose – if he was, I really, really wanted to sock him. Either way, he was being a huge insensitive jerk.

"…really? Nothing?"

"…"

"…"

Sensing my foul mood, Zhu Jiao wisely shut up and turned away, focusing his attention to the front. Clasping his fingers behind the back of his head, he tried to encourage me.

"W…well, it"s still early, and there"s still so much of the ancient tomb to explore. I"m sure you"ll find something really soon! Don"t worry!"

I sighed. "I really hope so."

We walked on for several dozen meters before we came across another network of tunnels, each leading to different regions of the tomb. I could see or sense a huge variety of people entering or moving through the various tunnels, all of them heading in different directions without any clear sense of goal other than to rely on their luck.

"Where should we go?"

Even though Zhu Jiao asked that question, I knew it wasn"t directed at me. It wasn"t a rhetorical question, despite his attempts to mask it as such. He was actually asking the little marten…no, I mean his master Qi Lin inside the golden amulet.

Since I had completely no idea, and Qi Lin"s senses would be more advanced than mine (not to mention Zhu Jiao"s protagonist luck completely outshadowed mine), I decided to leave it to Zhu Jiao to decide our next route.

"Kid, take the eighth tunel from the right. You"re looking for yin-based elixirs for your sister, right? I can sense the qi signatures of high-quality elixirs from there."

Qi Lin already had the answer. The ghostly master was a convenient person to have on board when looking for things, otherwise we could be exploring the tomb the whole day and still not find whatever we were looking for.

"Okay."

Zhu Jiao nodded and then gulped when he realized he had just said the word out loud. Unfortunately, I could overhear the conversation between him and his master. I just didn"t tell him that, or I would put him in a rough spot.

Seeing my nonchalant expression, my friend turned away and cleared his throat and pretended to mull over something for a few seconds. Then he snapped his fingers suddenly.

"Aha!" Zhu Jiao made it sound as if he had gained an epiphany, when in actual fact all he did was get a reply from his master. Most likely telling him where to go next because he sensed elixir or yin-based qi waves from that direction, for he turned sharply toward a precise location and headed toward a very specific tunnel. "That seems like the best place!"

He glanced at me worriedly, as if wondering if I was going to challenge him, or ask him why he decided on that tunnel, but I merely shrugged and followed him without question. A look of immense relief drifted across his face.

"Let"s go!"

Trying to imbue his voice with as much excitement and encouragement as possible, he waved enthusiastically for me to hurry up. I nodded and sped up.

"…"

As we moved toward the corridor, I felt a bone-chilling sensation of ghastly cold from the left. It seemed that the area was saturated with yin qi. Looked like Qi Lin knew what he was talking about when he was offering Zhu Jiao directions.

To my surprise, however, Zhu Jiao took a right turn.

"Eh?" I stopped, confused. "Aren"t we going that way?"

"Hmm?" Zhu Jiao looked puzzled at my question, tilting his head. Then he nodded in understanding. "Ah, yeah. If we go that way, we"ll definitely get the yin-based artifacts we"re looking for. Unfortunately, it"s much too dangerous. It"s a death-trap…designed to lure greedy people into it and divert their attention away from the real treasures." He gestured toward the right. "This path is a safer route to another chamber…it doesn"t have as many treasures, but at least we won"t be walking to our deaths."

He seemed a little nervous after his answer, as if expecting me to ask him how he knew, but since I already knew Qi Lin was essentially giving him instructions and explanations from the golden amulet, I simply nodded again. In actual fact, I had just overheard Qi Lin say the exact same thing. Zhu Jiao was repeating him word for word, but for obvious reasons I wasn"t going to subject poor readers to listening to the same dialogue for the second time in as many paragraphs. Instead, I had another question.

"What kind of death trap is there? Can"t we just deactivate it?"

"No, we can"t!" Qi Lin grumbled in exasperation. "Otherwise I would have told you the method to do so already!"

Obviously, Zhu Jiao didn"t repeat that part out. Instead, he listened to his master"s explanation and then regurgitated the relevant parts.

"Oh, it"s not just a trap that activates when you walk into it. The entire place is wrapped in the Nine Thousand Yin Ice h.e.l.l Formation. Anyone who tries to enter the vault will immediately freeze to death."

So basically the Chinese fantasy version of Cocytus. I nodded in comprehension.

"I see. Let"s avoid that, then."

Even though I had sort of experienced Cocytus when trying to claim ownership of the Nine-Tailed Frost Fox Formula, that wasn"t an experience I would like to repeat. Besides, that was a psychological attack and vivid illusion that did no damage to my physical body. While I was confident that I might be able to survive at least a few minutes inside the Nine Thousand Yin Ice h.e.l.l Formation, I knew I wouldn"t be able to hold out much longer than that.

And if I wanted to empty the vault of its treasures, I would need more than just a few minutes. Or so I believed.

"Anyway, let"s go! I think there"s someone shadowing us. No…quite a lot of people."

Zhu Jiao frowned when he detected the dudes who had been trailing us ever since we had taken this corridor. I had noticed them long ago, but they had kept their distance, and I was too busily sulking to warn Zhu Jiao of them.

It wouldn"t matter. Given his plot armor and protagonist powers, Zhu Jiao would easily thrash them even without my help.

Okay, so I was bitter. I couldn"t help it. Even then, I realized that this was my chance to finally get some form of treasure, so I had best cooperate with Zhu Jiao and fend off our stalkers before they had the chance to steal the stuff from us.

"All right. What"s the plan?" I asked.

"Plan?" Zhu Jiao stared at me, dumbfounded, and then he laughed. "We run in, grab the stuff, run out, and fight our way to safety. Easy, right?"

"…"

Yeah, it wounded easy, all right, but as with all plans, it was easier said than done. And in this particular case, much, much, much easier said than done. Even though I didn"t know what bulls.h.i.t realms or stages these guys were at, I could tell that they were fairly strong, enough to pose a challenge if we tried to fight them head-on.

And even though there wasn"t eally much of a difference between demonic sects and orthodox sects in terms of qi, from the high concentration of yin qi, the ruthless killing intent they emanated, they were most likely disciples from a demonic sect. granted, the so-called orthodox sects had their fair share of psychotic murderers who behaved like criminal thugs – Jiang Jun Hao being a perfect example – so I couldn"t be sure until they revealed themselves.

For now, it was best to be careful.

Without any alternative, I decided to go along with Zhu Jiao"s plan, at least for now anyway. We both hurried toward the chamber while I kept an eye (metaphorically) on the trailing shadows, making sure we didn"t get caught by surprise and attacked when our guard was down.

However, that supposedly demonic sect was far from being the only surprises in store for us.

As we made our way toward the chamber that Zhu Jiao"s master directed him toward, I could sense our stalkers closing the distance almost impatiently, as if they knew the treasures were near. I briefly wondered if they could hear Qi Lin too.

"There it is!" Qi Lin hissed. "Just a few meters ahead!"

Just as the ghostly master (who thought I couldn"t hear him) shouted that, I spotted the open chamber just in front of us. Like he said, I could sense the qi signatures of powerful, blessed elixirs emanating from within.

"This will help Qing Tan a lot!" Zhu Jiao cried out in delight as he made to dash forward, evidently detecting the same thing. "Thank you!"

He was forgetting in his excitement that I was not supposed to be able to hear his master, but I wasn"t going to burst his bubble.

Instead, I nodded. "Yeah, let"s grab what we need…"

Before I could finish my sentence, I suddenly sensed something dark surge from behind me. Without even turning around, I deftly spun my body to the side and avoided a shadow blade that stabbed right through the rock.

"!!!"

My a.s.sailant, who was surprised that I had dodged the shadow blade meant for my heart, was taken aback. Without even bother to turn, I casually flung a hand in his direction, using my Nine-Tailed Frost Fox Formula to send a bunch of icicles shooting outward to cover the entire place in ice and seeking to pierce whoever was stalking us in the shadows.

Apparently, having come to the same conclusion and being so close to the treasure elixirs, our stalkers couldn"t suppress their impatience and allowed greed to rule over their rationality, and impulsively emerged to attack.

Fine then, I would just defeat them…or if necessary, kill them.

Smash!

"!!!"

This time, it was my turn to be surprised. My a.s.sailant, recovering quickly from his failed a.s.sa.s.sination attempt, swung his sword and smashed the encroaching ice, dispersing the frosty yin qi and sending thousands of icy fragments showering the ground.

"Hmph…paltry tricks like these…do you think they"ll be able to stop me?"

"You…!"

Zhu Jiao"s eyes widened when he saw the owner of the voice step out, followed by dozens of his comrades. I narrowed my eyes.

"Li Xue Wu from the Heavenly Fiend Sect…"

"Heh." The successor to the demonic sect grinned as he gestured for the vast numbers of his fellow disciples to attack us. "Sorry, but those elixirs and treasures will belong to my Heavenly Fiend Sect. The two of you will have to die here."